Montgomeryshire Liberal Democrats

CALLING NOTICE - Official Joint Opening of the Carno II Windfarm and the Carno Community Wood Pellet Boiler

On Wednesday 16th September 2009 the Amegni Carno II Windfarm and the Carno Community Wood Pellet Boiler, in the community of Carno, Powys, will be officially opened by Montgomeryshire AM and Chair of the National Assembly Sustainable Energy Group (NASEG) Mick Bates AM.

All journalists and photographers welcome.

Date: Wednesday 16th September

Time: 12 noon

Location: Carno Community Centre, Carno, Powys

Commenting on the event, Mick Bates stated:

"I am delighted to support the opening of Carno II Windfarm and the Carno Community Wood Pellet Boiler, which are fantastic examples of how a local community can benefit from the development of renewable energy and help to tackle climate change at the same time.

"There are too many detractors from the development of wind energy but Carno II Windfarm represents the result of excellent consultation and good co-operation between the developers and the local community.

"Carno II Windfarm will supply over a quarter of the Powys population with electricity and repay the energy used during construction within 8 months. It has also brought huge benefits with over £4million spent in the Welsh economy during construction, a commitment to manage the habitat around the site and to invest £30,000 annually on projects that directly benefit the local community.

"The Carno Community Wood Pellet Boiler is a great example of this community benefit and I look forward to the many other projects that will be supported and developed with finance from Carno II windfarm over the coming years. Not only will these projects help to support the economy in rural areas, but also help Wales to play our part in the battle against climate change."

Notes:

Full background details attached.

CARNO II WINDFARM

The Carno II Windfarm is a £20 million 15.6 megawatt (MW) windfarm development in Powys, mid-Wales. The site has recently been constructed and fully commissioned. This means that Carno II Windfarm is now fully operational and supplying electricity to the local grid. The windfarm will produce in excess of 45 million units or 45,000MWh of electricity per year, enough to power some 8,700 households - about a quarter of the Powys population - and repay the energy used in its construction in about six to eight months. Now operational, Carno II will displace some 33,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually in comparison to coal burnt in a conventional power station.

During development and construction of the windfarm in excess of £4 million has been spent in the Welsh economy and although some of the financing ultimately came from London based financiers, ownership of the windfarm has stayed within the local community in the hands of the enterprising farmers.

Apart from adding value to the local economy during the construction phase, Carno II is also providing direct benefits to the local community, through making annual community benefit payments. Three local organisations stand to benefit, namely the Carno Community Trust Fund, the Llanbrynmair Community Trust Fund and the Mid Wales Community Energy Trust known as "Windfall". A total of £10,000 per annum will be paid to the Carno and Llanbrynmair Community Trust Funds with a further commitment of £20,000 per annum made to "Windfall".

The community package will support projects within the local communities to the windfarm with an emphasis on education, sustainability and energy saving measures. Examples of such projects include the recently installed wood pellet boiler at the Carno Community Centre.

CARNO COMMUNITY WOOD PELLET BOILER

Carno Community Centre, through the Carno Recreation Association, was established for the benefit of the inhabitants of Carno village and surrounding district, providing facilities in the interests of social welfare for recreation and leisure time occupation. The Centre is well used by a range of groups including a children's nursery, local sports clubs, the W.I., Merched y Wawr, Mothers and Toddlers and Senior Citizens Club. In this rural area it provides a vital facility for the local community.

The boiler is a fully automatic Binder PK45, supplied by Wood Energy Ltd, Devon, with a maximum capacity rating of 45kW. The boiler has an auger-driven fuel extraction and conveying system, electric ignition, exhaust gas fan and automatic ash-collection and heat-exchanger cleaning systems. The installation includes a 1000 litre accumulator tank to improve the efficiency of the system and to allow a peak power of 50kW to be supplied for up to 2.5hours a day if necessary. The containerised system also includes a pellet storage facility with a volume of 8m3. Based on 50,000kWh, the boiler system will save circa 12 tonnes of CO2 per year assuming heating oil is the alternative fuel.

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